Denying Pak claims, Kirpal Singh’s family demand for post-mortem

The family members of Kirpal Singh, the Indian prisoner, who died under mysterious circumstances in a Lahore jail, have denied Pakistan’s claim that he died of a heart attack and demand post-mortem to ascertain the facts.

Jagir Kaur had on Thursday met Arvind Kejriwal in New Delhi. She was accompanied by Dalbir Kaur, the elder sister of another Indian, Sarabjit Singh, who also died in the same Pakistani jail in 2013, allegedly after being beaten up by some Pakistani prisoners.(HT File Photo)

The family members of Kirpal Singh, the Indian prisoner, who died under mysterious circumstances in a Lahore jail, have denied Pakistan’s claim that he died of a heart attack and demand post-mortem to ascertain the facts.

“How can we believe that he died of heart attack? His body should be sent to us and post-mortem be done. We want to know the truth,” nephew of Singh told ANI.

With India raising the issue of Singh’s death, Pakistan has said that the Indian prisoner died of heart attack while asserting that it was not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy.

“The Indian prisonerKirpal Singh died on April 11 due to heart attack. It is not appropriate to see everything through the prism of suspicion and conspiracy. He was kept in intensive care at the hospital but he could not survive,” Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said.

He said that Islamabad was in touch with the Indian High Commission with regard to handing over Singh’s body.

“We have communicated this information to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad. We are in contact with the Ministry of Interior and the Indian High Commission with regard to transportation of dead body back to India,” he added.

Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had on Thursday met the family members of Singh in New Delhi and promised a full inquiry into the matter.

India’s acting high commissioner in Islamabad, JP Singh, met the director-general for South Asia in the Pakistani Ministry for Foreign Affairs to request that Singh’s body be flown to India at the earliest.